Russell Allphin is serving an LDS Mission in Salta Argentina. This is a collection of his experiences and letters home.

Monday, June 11, 2012

A Boiling Good Baptism

How goes
it?

Glad to
hear all is swell and kickin'! I trust
everything is in good shape. A big thank you to Stephen and Chris for the
money. I love them so much and let them know that I will spend it solely on pirated
Argentinean movies and mate. Also, I will keep Traci and her fam in my prayers.

I don’t
have a ton of time to write today (which stinks ‘cause I have a lot to say) but
oh well. First off, I got 2 packages today. The zonies got them in Salta and they were the
ones with the photos of my friends and treats, and the package of cocoa, and
everything. Thank you sooooo much! I was so happy. We were skipped on the bolsa
this week ‘cause the zonies were gone the times they were to get them so I got
a bunch of letters from you when it finally came. Its always so very good to
hear from all of you. I’m so grateful for you guys. Thank, thank, thank you so
much!!! Anyway, onto the week.

T'was a
good week. We started out by having an interesting experience at a less-active’s
house. As I was sitting in their kitchen I heard this noise and turned my head.There was a bathroom to the direct right of
me with someone using the bathroom. The only thing wrong with this picture is
that this bathroom doesn’t have a door so I just waved back to the guy in the
bathroom and tried to direct all of my attention to anything at all interesting
in the room so I wouldn’t have to see Mr. dookie.Gotta love it, right?

It was a
pretty normal week. Stinkin' cold!! Its supposed to be heating up soon but lately
its been freezing! Luckily we have 2 nice heaters and they are amazing and I'm
always toasty but those cocoa packets will for sure come in handy! We went to
our branch president’s house for lunch this Friday and, low and behold, guess
what we got to watch? Those, ever so timeless, Living Scripture cartoons. It
was funny to watch them again after all these years ‘cause I totally remember
them! We watched the “Tree of Life” one. Its funny, whenever I read the
scriptures about Nephi and his family, Alma
the younger, or the first vision, I can only picture the Living Scriptures
cartoons. It was a good blast from the past.

I met a
recent convert named Fernanda (we call her Fernanda 22 ‘cause we have 2 Fernandas
that we work with: One that’s 22 and one that’s 27) and she is so funny. She
showed me the music she likes and its stuff like Vampire weekend. She’s way
cool. She reminds me a lot of my good, dear friend Holly Green. Way cool!

Argentina played Brazil
in New Jersey
this week.During the game, as we walked
through the different neighborhoods, you could hear people screaming when we
got a goal. It was awesome. We won, by the way, 4-3! Messi is a saint!

This Sunday
was good. During priesthood this guy sat by me who smelled like he’d kept his
mouth unbrushed and closed for 35 years. Then he decided to breathe right in my
face. Needless to say, I have no eyebrows left. Seriously, this guy was the
bane of all hygienic existence. He just wanted to talk to me the entire time
and, to top it off, he was very weird. He kept poking me with a toothpick,
touching my scriptures, and kept bumping me while I was writing my talk. After
that I just got up and went to another seat. It was good fun.

Oh, and I
did give a talk in sacrament meeting this Sunday. It was on charity like my
last talk (‘cause we were called to give talks that Saturday night) but it was
revamped. It went over really well. I wasn’t nervous or anything. T’was a good
show!

Oh, and I
guess I should say that yes, this week WE HAD A BAPTISIM!! Fernanda
(Fernanda 27) got baptized this week. We had to fill up the baptismal font with
buckets of boiling water that we continually had to boil and pour in the font.
It was fun! Elder Adams got to baptize her. It
went really well. The spirit was strong and it was a baptism for the ages! I
sent you some pics of it (the last one is my favorite). Fernanda is a good,
nice girl with a strong testimony and is way cool. At her confirmation on Sunday
she cried during it ‘cause she was so happy. It was a very nice moment. Other
than that stuff folks, that’s about all that happened this week. A good week
for sure! Now, onto the questions:

Do you eat
with members still?

Yeah we eat
with them all the time. The members are super cool here. We have a lot of Milanesa,
empanadas, and guiso which is kind of like a spaghetti-o stew. Good stuff!

Did you
make your banana bread from a mix or from scratch?

We made
banana bread from that recipe book you gave me. It turned out really good! We
cook a lot (a lot more than I used to in Aeroparque) but, then again, I do love
my Trix cereal!

Who’s in
your district?

We have the
zonies in our district, Elder Pringle from Arizona
and Elder Grislac from Buenos Aires.
We also have Elder Stephenson from California
and Elder Shoeman from...well idk where he’s from but they are all good
folks.Elder Stevenson is a way tight
kid. Our district is having some drama with the zonies right now so hopefully,
in district meeting, we can resolve whatever is going on but, other than that,
we have a pretty cool district.

Have you
heard anything about Maxi and Noelle?

No, not
yet. I’m thinking of writing them. I got to thinking abut them this week and I
felt I should write them. They are good folks. F'reals, I was very close to
them, especially Maxi, that guy is like my brother. I know they’re going to be
baptized and go to the temple and be good members for the rest of forever but I
hope everything’s all good with them so I’m gonna try to write them soon.

Anything we
can do for you on this end?

Pray that we
will find more people to teach. We are seriously out of newbies and are pulling out
the “big gun” reference hunting to find people. I want to put together a ward
mission plan so hopefully that will kick off soon. Pray that I can work super
hard and be good and diligent. I want to work really hard so I can find and
teach people. Please pray for me that I will work super hard and do my best
with everything. Thank you so much.

"Lullaby"
by The Cure is playing in the cyber now and I think that’s big Bob Smith’s way
of saying "its time to get going". Just know how much I love and appreciate
you guys. Its been a year on the 15th that I received my call. Can
you guys believe that? I remember opening my call by the island in grandma’s kitchen
in my pajamas (after rushing over to the post office to pick it up). Remember
that ha-ha? I remember opening it and reading "Salta, Argentina"
and I just remember feeling so good and so right about that call. It felt so familiar
to me, like I already knew it, kinda. I’m so glad to be here. What a journey
its been so far. I love it here. Whatever comes I know it’ll all be good. I’m
so thankful for you guys and hope that all is well. I know it is. Remember that
I love and miss you and that it’s all good!

Con Amor,

Russ

P.S. A
happiest Father’s day on the 17th, Dad! Thanks for the good advice! I’ll
put it into play.And thanks for the
terrific Morrissey cat toupee picture in the package. Moz would be proud. I’ll
see what I can do about hooking you up with some nice Argentinean garb. Which are
basically shell suits, nice huh? Also, I've noticed some of my comps have had
something from their dads missions like plaques, ties, dirty undies, etc. Do
you think you could hook me up with something in a future package from your
mish like that? Anything but kimchi!If
you have any questions just ask me. Thank you. I love you!